The government is battling to ensure that estimates of the benefits and risks of identity cards remain secret.
The freedom of information watchdog ordered the Department of Work and Pensions to publish its findings about how the cards could fight ID fraud.
Now the department has decided to appeal against the information commissioner's ruling.
The Lib Dems say it is disappointing the government is still trying to "cover up the facts about ID cards".
Home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "The public has a right to know if the billions of pounds the government is committing to this massive project will be money well spent.
"It is a measure of the government's failure to justify ID cards that during the passage of the bill they never once released a full estimate of its costs and impact."
Benefit assessments
The government's appeal will be heard by the Information Tribunal but the process can take several months.
All government departments affected by the controversial ID cards scheme have drawn up reports about its long-term benefits.
Three feasibility reports drawn up by Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) officials examined the potential impact on identity fraud - one of the key reasons ministers have used to justify the cards.
They also looked at any possible risks the cards could pose to the department's work.
Lib Dem Mark Oaten asked for a copy of the reports - with sensitive information removed - when he was the party's home affairs spokesman in 2004.
But he was told that making them public could make it harder to get value for money when the government handed out contracts to firms to set up the scheme.
The department also said releasing such information prematurely could stop ministers and officials discussing the pros and cons of policies.
'Strong public interest'
But the freedom of information watchdog, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, ruled that the papers should be published.
The benefits of releasing them outweighed the fact that the information was exempt from the full scope of the openness laws, he said.
"There is clearly a strong public interest in the public knowing whether the introduction of identity cards will bring benefits to the DWP, and to other government departments, and if so what those benefits will be," said Mr Thomas.
He argued the reports would help informed public debate of the ID card issue - including whether it ought to be compulsory to carry the cards.
"It will allow the public to make a more accurate assessment of whether the significant costs of the scheme are justified by the benefits it is likely to deliver in areas such as the prevention of benefit fraud," says Mr Thomas.
The watchdog has examined the reports and says he can see no information which would put the government's work at risk.
From the BBC here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5150584.stm
The fervour with which the British Government is displaying in trying to set up a system for mandatory ID cards is truly Orwellian.
With justifications for keeping the details of cost, and the potential for fraudulent use of the system being no more than a smoke screen.
The government argue that if they made such details public knowledge then it would be harder for them to get value for money when intorducing the scheme to private companies they want to get on board.
To me it sounds more like "We don't want to tell the public too much about them, or they will realise how much taxpayers money will be spent on an authoritarian ID system. we also dont want them to know how ineffective they will be at preventing fraudulent abuse of the system", which is their main resoning for introducing them.
I would also hazard a guess at the costs involved in sucha system to be staggering (maybe in the ten's of Billion's). Therefore maybe another reason for not sharing the financial information about how theis will be paid for is becuase of the money that would be made/ come from the selling of private and "Apparently Secure" details to data mining companies, who would likely have the authority to then sell the details on again to third parties. So although they would be teling us our details are well looked after, they are using the details to fund the system or make huge profits for the pathocratic leaders.
Further to this it seems as though they are fighting against disclosing how much it will cost for every citizen to actually pay for these cards, as they know the price may run into 3 figures, and the public would surely revolt against such a price tag for an ID system few of us want/need/ or agree with...this also begs the question of how the homeless/poor and elderly would be able to pay for such a card.
The average state pension for those of retirment age in my country is barely more than
